Lyndon SnoCruisers Replace Bridge

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Created on Wednesday, 23 October 2013 16:43
Written by Courtland Hanley

snocruisersEAST BURKE - The Lyndon SnoCruisers have been working hard to replace two bridge projects prior to the 2013-2014 snow season. The first project was on Sanborn Bridge in Lyndonville. The next project is to replace a bridge in East Burke.

The Sanborn Bridge is one of few privately owned bridges in the United States, and it's important to many that the bridge remains functional. Lyndon is known as the bridge capital of the Northeast Kingdom, and the Sanborn Bridge is a historal part of that. There is a broken cross beam under the bridge, and many fear the bridge will soon collapse into the Passumpsic River.

Eight volunteers worked on the Sanborn Bridge project this past weekend, starting early Saturday morning. Volunteers worked to dismantle a 20' by 16' building that was sitting on the bridge, in an effort to relieve weight off of the weakening bridge.

Currently, pedestrians and those riding snow machines are only able to cross the Sanborn Bridge via the walkway alongside the bridge. However, the 20' but 16' building sitting on the south end of the bridge has become expendable, and has been used mostly for storage for the last 15 years. What is still usable of the wood from the building on the bridge will be used to help support the Sanborn Bridge.

Volunteers will head to East Burke this weekend to work on the wooden bridge behind the East Burke Market. The entire bridge needs to be replaced, as several of the wooden planks are rotted, or missing altogether.

As far as the bridge in East Burke goes, Tanner says "This bridge here is more or less a safety concern. It's worn out. It gets a ton of use in the winter-time from snowmobiles. It's a multi-function bridge in the summer time... It's used by hikers and a lot of mountain bikers... but the main reason it's there is for snowmobiling purposes."

Construction on the bridge in East Burke is expected to be finished well ahead of the start of snowmobile season, which starts December 15th. For those interested in volunteering to work on the bridge, contact Dan Tanner at 802-535-5260.